The Miracle of Berlin
by Der Graue
Summary: The Pokémon Battle World Cup has been a source of struggle for Germany, never winning the tournament in its history. But when the qualifiers come to Berlin in early 2015, a trainer, as always, is selected from the host city to represent his country. Gunter Schöll, the wildcard, steps forth to try and become the hero that he only dreamed he could be.
1. Und Jetzt Was?

**AN/: Guten Tag, und herzlich willkommen! Don't let the German intimidate you, this story is absolutely in English with a few sprinklings of German phrases and words here and there. This project has been something I've been working on intermittently for a while when I've had time with my other and many responsibilities.**

 **So, what I'd like to lay out right now, is my goals and expectations for this story, along with my reasoning for doing what I've done.**

 **This story, stemming from a conversation I had with a friend of mine, is more 'The real world with Pokémon' than 'Pokémon in the real world'. There's some conventions of the series I'm deviating from, as you'll notice as you go through the progression of the story. I have my opinions on how this sort of thing would work, and I'm sure you and many others have your own opinions on how this scenario would actually play out. But unless Game Freak, Nintendo and the other respective owners try to do something like this(or they have and I don't know anything about it at all), we'll never really know. So, please take that in mind when you're reading my story.**

 **You're probably wondering how often this story will be updated. The best answer I can give is that I don't know. I do have a life outside of this website and all of that takes precedence over this, because in the grand scheme of things, the story is fairly insignificant and something I just enjoy on the side for fun and not some super serious endeavor. So, before any of you down the line start peppering me with messages asking when the next chapter will be, the answer will always be, 'It'll be done when it's done.' Although I don't really take this super seriously, I want to provide high quality content for you to enjoy, and that's something I do value and I know that it benefits you as a reader(since I'm a reader too) to have a chapter of high quality, versus one that comes early that does not really pass muster. So, to put it simply, there will be no schedule.**

 **My goals for this story is to present a narrative that's something a little different than the typical story on here and plays off of things I've experienced from the time I've spent in Germany. I lived and studied there for two months a year or so ago, and it really inspired me to get started on writing this story because of how unique of a place it is. I've especially grown to love German music and you'll notice some references to some of the artists I've grown fond of thanks to recommendations from some kind people I had the good fortune to meet. I have a very love/hate relationship with Germany, and you'll probably notice that with some things that are said and things that happen in the story. There are things I love about being there, and things I very much hate about it. But would I go back and do it all again?**

 **Absolutely.**

 **So, I want to give people a taste of that world, for those who can't experience it, along with shaking the equation up with the inclusion of Pokémon into the mix.**

 **Then that leaves the last questioned to be answered.**

 **Why?**

 **It's funny to really say out loud what the planted the seed in my mind for this story, because my writing friends and I joke about it all the time. It's** _ **Snowblind**_ **by Jason Marten. One of my friends said "You literally got the idea from a story that's sort of Pokémon Ice Road Truckers". I read some of it around 2013-2014 or so when I was beginning to get into the website and writing in general, and something about it piqued my interest and I thought, one day I could do something like that, but who knows if it would be good enough for anyone to even look at, let alone read. But now, the day has come. And I'll leave you to decide for yourselves what the answer to that is.**

 **Viel Glück, and enjoy,**

 **Der Graue**

 **This story is dedicated to the many friends who made this possible. Special thanks to three in particular who have helped with proofreading and one who also helped with the cover image.**

 **(There will be no further Author's Notes until the end of Chapter 4, since the first four chapters are all available immediately.)**

* * *

Ch.1 Und Jetzt Was?

"Einsteigen, bitte!"

That robotic voice, oh how many times I had heard it before. It was essentially stamped into my brain at this point. Everyone knew it in Berlin. Everyone rides the S-Bahn. It was the nighttime commute for the chronic workaholics and hopeless addicts to vice.

"Zurückbleiben, bitte!"

 _Only for the drunkards._

I was slumped up against the rail separating my seat from the door once the subway train shunted back into motion after another punctual stop. There wasn't a lot of people on here this late on a Friday night. Most were already off partying and drinking in the bars or heading to where I was going.

Friday nights were liberation for me. I got out of the hostel from the stuffy-rich Kurfürstendamm borough to the battling dojo in the center of downtown Berlin at Ulli's. Ulli's was everything in my life ever since I was kicked out by my father from home outside of Leipzig a couple hundred miles south of Berlin a few years back when I turned eighteen. I got a job there as a battle referee, so I did pretty well money-wise along with the money I made from battling myself. The only reason I didn't live at Ulli's was because the hostel housing for trainers and staff who worked at Ulli's was in Olivaer Platz across the city. Mitte real estate in the dead center of town was way too expensive to keep two places for very long unless you were killing the profits.

My eyes were dancing lazily around at my fellow passengers as the train passed through the city, with everything outside blurry from the darkness. Up to the top of my nose, my farm-tanned face was covered by the fabric of the collar from my grey Luftwaffe leather jacket, undoubtedly my most expensive flea market weekend purchase. Along with my blue jeans, and pale white trainers, I looked the part of a very ordinary young Berliner. My bright blond hair stuck out, combed to the right with the sides and back shaved. That was ordinary compared to a lot of people here, I must admit. I was slightly regretting my choice of not wearing a cap, since it was November and bloody cold as well. The dull lighting inside the S-Bahn definitely wasn't burning my pale green eyes as they settled down to the floor, staring at my impatiently tapping foot. Getting around on the U-Bahn and S-Bahn was more convenient than walking the whole damn way, but it still meant waiting to get there and walking some more.

Ulli's was quite a ways from the stop I had to get off at, and it didn't change the fact I had to change trains at the Zoologischer Garten to get to Friedrichstraße, which was the closest street stop I could get to Ulli's. After all that, I still had to cross the river to get there. I preferred to walk as little as I could in this bitter cold. After a couple more minutes in silence and being lit in flashes by passing neon and streetlights, the call finally came.

"Friedrichstraße."

Of course, the kind automated Frau always stated her health and safety guidelines for getting off the train, but everyone essentially tuned it out. It was meaningless since we had heard it so many times. Everyone could probably recite in their sleep though. The brakes on the train screeched into life, slowing the metal snake down as we finally came to the platform. I pushed myself up and back to the real world as I waited in line at the door to disembark.

Once we came to a stop, the old man in front, dressed for a funeral in his black overcoat and fedora, pressed the button to open the door, unleashing the cold air into our faces as we came onto the platform. Another red and piss yellow S-Bahn flew past on the opposite platform as I descended down the stairs into the main part of the station to finally get out onto Friedrichstraße. As I headed outside, I passed through the electronic field barrier, emitting a dull hum at every train station entrance and exit in Germany. Once out onto the colorfully lit streets of the city, I relaxed, letting down my fabric collar with a sigh.

I pulled a small black drawstring bag out of the pocket inside my jacket, opening it to find six ping-pong sized red-and-white balls. I pulled one out marked with a crescent moon and placed the bag back inside my jacket. I pressed the button in between the red and white, enlarging the ball, and it opened with a blinding flash. When the lightshow ended I snapped it closed and placed the empty ball in my front coat pocket, bulging the grey leather significantly. A decently-sized four-legged black creature sat patiently in front of of me, head cocked to the right, with its long black ears with yellow ovals glowing dimly in the night.

"Guten Abend, Kage," I smirked back at him as I squatted down to his level and rubbed his head between the ears, scratching the spots on his fur he loved me to get for him.

"Breee-on," he responded with a reluctant, cat-like purr.

"You're right, we do have somewhere to be."

We began our walk to the north over the bridge on the Spree River, finally seeing everyone out with their Pokémon. It was sometimes still a bit of system shock with everyone out with Pokémon everywhere having grown up out in the countryside, but it was allowed only to an extent, the police kept a pretty tight control over what could be allowed in the city. Certain flying Pokémon and other large sized ones were only allowed under special permit by the police and government. It was much harder to get some of the highly coveted ones often used in competition, so naturally there was a black market for that. When is there not a black market for something?

Kage kept pace with me as we finally came to Ziegelstraße and turned right onto it. This street was lit up heavily from lights advertising the bars and restaurants. There was a big piece of painted street art on a large concrete apartment building. It was advertisement for Pallas, a major American sports brand, with Germany's best two professional trainers Michael Hahn and Nadia Segert. Both had the famous curled wing across the chest, with their Pokémon teams of six surrounding them in a dazzling, swirling art style as they stared down at passers-by in the street. Across the bottom of it in big white letters on black, a caption read:

Riskier alles.

Risk everything.

That big advertisement had been placed there because of the World Cup qualifiers being held in Berlin in January. The buzz on Ziegel was pretty electric ever since it was announced. Quite a few well-known battle dojos were located all along the street here, with Ulli's being one of them. A lot of people were out drinking on the patios and at street-side tables despite the cold. It took only the snow and rain to force people inside, since half the people in Berlin were cigarette smoking addicts. As Kage and I moseyed our way down the sidewalk past the restaurants filled with people and quite a few Pokémon, I finally came to Ulli's on the right side of the street.

Ulli's was in a relatively new, fairly large former comedy club building. The building was a dark grey which looked almost black at night time. A big red neon sign hung above the entryway. It had a large arrow beckoning towards the door. The only thing written on the sign was simply 'Ulli's', with a Machamp and Hitmonlee trading blows back and forth in a never-ending battle.

I walked inside to the harsh smell of liquor and tobacco smoke, a lot worse than outside. Ulli's was a part-bar part-dojo hybrid that had become incredibly popular in the past three-to-four years. The entrance and first area you entered looked a lot like a standard bar, with a lot of TVs showing matches in the dojo and international live matches on the regular networks. The owner had made a rather wise decision to keep the dojo separated by big glass windows, not allowing the rabble in so the drunks wouldn't interfere with the matches. Along with keeping the general stench out of the dojo, it was much easier to keep the dojo clean for the fighters and Pokémon.

Ulli's was also fairly popular since you could smoke inside. After the nationwide indoor smoking ban in bars and pubs, everyone was trying to find a way to get around it. The first owner of the building had done it in a rather creative way. Taking the term 'hole-in-the-wall bar' literally, he chopped a big hole in the wall on the wall to the left of the bar. He made it large enough to make the room 'open-air' and the inspectors could do jack-shit about it.

However, no one in their right mind ever brought their pokémon into the bar at the peak hours. They struggled with the smoke just as bad as any sane human being did. Kage was doing his best not to breath it in. He especially didn't like the smoke, and would start coughing very badly if he inhaled too much. When I looked over to him as I walked along, he was bulging somewhat from holding his breath.

 _Oh good lord,_ I sighed, _Give him just a few more seconds._

The owner of Ulli's was behind the bar working away at keeping the Bier flowing. His name was Roland von Saudek, a 41 year old heavily-muscled man built more like a Panzer tank than anything related to the human species. Roland looked the part of former military with the brown buzzed hair, black eyes, multiple face scars, plain grey t-shirt, and german desert camouflage pants. He actually never had been in the military but it was a nice appearance for him to maintain so people wouldn't mess with him. As I headed around the main room towards the door heading to locker room of the dojo, I waved in his direction, and he returned a bright smile with a wave as well. I pulled out my keychain and unlocked the steel door, opening and closing it quickly as I hurried through.

 _Now, I'm home._

I could hear Kage letting out his breath with a heavy sigh, panting hard to lap up all the clean air he could. I turned my head to give him a wink, and he quickly plopped on after me. This hallway was painted in a dull beige with plain white bathroom tile adorning the floor, there were several doors on the sides of the hallway, and a large double black door at the end. I opened the last door on the left side to head into the employee locker room to put my extra stuff away and get my work clothes on. A couple people from the previous shift and my shift were in there, including my partner in crime for most nights, Isaak Baumann, a messy, brown haired 20 year old who, despite being almost 196 cm tall still looked like he was seventeen, maybe eighteen years old if I was being generous. Isaak had a big grin on his face when I came through the door.

"About time you showed up, König Gunter Schöll," he said holding out his hand in a fist, which I quickly bumped as I went over to my locker, "Hey Kage, has he not given you any treats today?"

Of course I had, but Isaak knows Kage would do anything to gets his paws on some more, and Isaak had a penchant for fueling the Umbreon's craving for blueberries. Isaak always got some at the farmer's market everyday so if we were on the same shift he would bring his leftovers to let Kage munch on them during the dead time.

Kage was sitting on his haunches licking his lips as Isaak threw a couple in his direction, and Kage quickly snatched them out of the air with no trouble, chewing and swallowing them in a matter of seconds. Kage wagged his tail on the floor, signaling he clearly wanted more.

"I can't give you all of them now," Isaak chuckled, closing his locker with a metallic thud.

I threw my jacket in the locker as I straightened my black polo shirt with a small 'Ulli's' on the right front side, glancing over at the two and their argument.

"You know he's going to get them eventually," I said, answering for Kage.

"He's going to have to work to get fat then," Isaak snarked back as he threw his black leather battle belt with six poke balls attached over his left shoulder, "Did you bring the full crew today?"

"Jawohl," I replied quickly, fixing my poke balls to a worn, brown leather battle belt, and placed my mobile phone into a pouch on the belt, "I'm probably going to need most of them by the time is over to break up the disputes. Some idiot is going to claim I called on their guys out early, and it's always me."

"With that attitude, it most certainly will be you," Isaak continued, heading over to the door as I finished up, propping it open with his foot, "Maybe if you didn't worry so much, it'd go more smoothly."

"I can't help it, you know that."

"All too well, I'm afraid."

"Well then, let's get going."

I headed back out to hall with Kage in tow, and Isaak at my right side. We started talking about some football match that I had missed again, when we went through the black double doors at the end of the hall into the dojo of Ulli's. It was a pretty big area, a high vaulted warehouse space, with about 10 smaller, enclosed battle zones, and one large zone in the center. All of them had steel reinforcement on the walls to protect them from damage, and the glass that was there was tempered safety glass, which did stop most of the damage and held in place pretty well, and even if it did break so we could replace it easily. If someone was going to use something like a Tyranitar, we had to be notified in advance so we could get extra glass and they could only be in the the large main zone. A Gyarados was the reason behind that rule. It blasted out an entire small enclosure in two minutes. Let's just say the clean up was not pleasant for any of the staff.

The main desk area was off to the left, with a row of tables and seats along the wall facing towards the desk itself. The desk was the only entrance to let people into the battle zones. I didn't have to be the victim for desk duty anymore since I got a class A refereeing license about half a year ago. So I was one of a handful here who could referee large matches legally. I always got picked for that job without fail when I was around since Roland liked having me here. A lot of the nicer guys typically requested me to show up, so it felt good to have some decent people respect the work I did.

Lucie Wehner sat in her chair behind the large desk, slowly spinning left and right, with her chin firmly planted into her right hand as she dreamed of a much better Friday night. Once we both approached, she seemed to wake from her stupor, seeming slightly cheerful at least. She was dressed in similar attire to the both of us, with her long black hair tied up in a ponytail. Lucie was significantly more tanned than either of us, especially since she purposely went out and paid to be like that. I never really understood her reasoning for it. She had these exceptionally bright blue eyes that were fairly magnetic, and to no one's surprise, Lucie found herself a boyfriend within two weeks of moving to Berlin. I guess that says enough about how attractive she was.

"Hey you two," Lucie greeted us warmly. She got up from her spot and let us in so we could go through everyone's paperwork who was scheduled for the night.

To run a dojo would be simple, you'd think, but the mountains of paperwork that had to be signed and presented in order to be allowed to do this was ridiculous. It was nice that once you got the first timers out of the way they didn't have to do it it again, but we always had a lot of first-timers that floated around the different spots in town, especially the foreigners.

"We've got quite a few new ones tonight," Lucie sighed as she sat down and reclaimed her post, though her fortunes turned since Kage felt he needed to curl up in her lap, "Quite a few Americans and English here. I pushed up Manuel and Andreas for you, Gunter since they showed up. Apparently, Manuel somehow got a Noivern."

"Scheiße, for real?" Isaak shouted, "I heard there's only ten in Europe right now."

Lucie shrugged as she scratched Kage's head, eliciting a low friendly growl from him, "I've seen it myself."

"How good do you think it is?" I walked over to one of the cabinets opposite of Lucie, grabbing a water bottle from it.

She shrugged. "It looks alright to me, who really knows though." After a moment of silence, her eyes lit up in realization, "Do you guys remember last time Manuel pulled that trick with that Zoroark?"

Isaak and I looked at each other and smirked. "You mean the Zoroark he refuses to show papers for and won't say a single thing about, ever?" Isaak asked, looking over to Lucie as she grinned back at us.

"Guess we'll get to find out what this is all about!" I said, giving a Isaak a slap on the back.

"It'd better be worth it," Lucie chuckled as she turned her attention back to her work.

The rest of the referees of the night began to come through and head to their spots as we all shared quick greetings with them. When the clock finally hit 2215, it was time to get going. Lucie started calling up the first matches which were quite a few of the Americans, and one or two locals.

 _Die Amis are in for a shock_.

I was stuck sitting around since the first big match wasn't for another ten or fifteen minutes. Of course, Manuel and Andreas took this as their cue, sauntering over to the desk with their Pokéball belts slung over their shoulders.

"Hey Gunter, good to see you," Andreas, the rail thin, buzz cut blonde chirped as we clasped hands in greeting, "You get to have us first."

"Well, I don't think I could have two bigger shit-heads than you to take care of," I snorted back as I glanced over at Kage who was lying on his back while Lucie scratched his exposed stomach as she worked away on her laptop.

"Oh come on, give us a break man," the chiseled, boisterous red haired Manuel huffed, "We can't be that bad."

"If you keep lying about that Noivern, yeah you can be," I replied, staring back at Manuel, "Come on, we all know it's the Zoroark trick. Do you really think you're going to fool Andreas into thinking that's not what you're trying to do?"

Manuel just rolled his eyes at me, "At least I follow the rules."

 _Unfortunately, he does have point. But he's avoiding the question again…there's something fishy with this whole thing…_

"How much money have they put down on this one upstairs?" I changed the subject as I pulled off one of my pokéballs from my belt as I let them both through the desk so we could set up the main battle zone.

"Five thousand so far," Lucie interjected, "Good luck you two."

 _Whew. Big night._

They both held up a hand in thanks as we headed down the passageway. To our left behind a wall of glass, an Empoleon was barely standing its ground against a barrage of attacks by a Skarmory, the steel bird darting every which way as it poked for a hole to finally put the Empoleon down. Further down a stream of flame darted from the mouth of a Torkoal, with a Cacturne running along the walls attempting to close the distance enough to hit the turtle-like Pokémon with a feint attack of its own.

We turned off to the right to the big zone. Above the entry, as with all the battle zones, read this caption:

"Bis einer heult!"

 _Until one cries! Pah, neither of these guys are going to go down that easy._

Once you were inside the glass and steel cage, you finally really felt how big the arena was. It seemed like it went on endlessly in every direction, but when the battling started, that size shrank very fast.

On instinct, I finally activated the pokéball in my left hand once everyone was, at last, getting ready and I watched as a big shadow grew over me. It was only a moment before I was buried in yellow and white fur accompanied by playful barking.

"Fritz! Fritz!" I managed to squeak out as the massive Arcanine buried me in his big mane, "Nicht jetzt! Hal-t-t-t!"

He finally realized his error as I rolled out from my furry tomb, with Andreas and Manuel having a hearty laugh at my expense.

"That sucker's got a big damn heart," Andreas smiled.

 _Too big almost._

Fritz…there are almost no words that described the bond we shared. We grew up together almost like brothers on my parent's farm. My father was and still is a world-renowned Growlithe and Arcanine breeder, the only one certified by the highest Chinese breeding standards in the western world. Fritz was born when I was 5-6 years old, and the first shiny-genome that my father had ever bred. Of course since he was worth an absolute fortune with his genes, he immediately endeared himself to me and we were inseparable. Once Fritz evolved into a Arcanine when I was ten, I remember being absolutely petrified at the possibility of my dad selling him. When I asked him years later about it, he knew from the first moments that selling Fritz to someone else would be a horrible idea. Arcanine are definitely very proud pokémon, and on a few occasions we had ones that refused to leave the farm to go be with others. Those were the ones that stuck around and were some of my 'older' brothers growing up.

Blink, Gigant, Ruprecht, Leo. I definitely missed them a lot. Those were some fun summer days running with them in the meadows.

During my time-traveling, Fritz sat on his hind legs, his head cocked in worry that he had hurt me. Once I looked to him and smiled, his tongue hung out over his teeth in eager happiness. He lowered his head and I gave him a pat on the nose as we went to the middle of the zone with Andreas and Manuel.

I took out the order sheet, and it turned out it was just going to be a two on two single battle. Manuel had his 'Noivern' and a Torterra, while Andreas brought a Mawile along with a Medicham. This seemed to be a very intriguing matchup. With the standard non-professional 'house rules', there was no time limit and you had no idea about the lineup or the fixed order of the pokémon of your opponent fielded. The referee knew everything, so that sometimes took the excitement out of things.

I figured no one wanted to waste any more time. With the customary handshake at the center out of the way, each trainer went to their respective side as I moved back up against the glass at the center line, to give me a full view of the area. Once everything looked in order, I put my whistle in my mouth and blew to signal the start.

Manuel started out with his party piece Noivern and Andreas launched his own Mawile out into the fray. The Noivern was hovering in the air slightly in front of Manuel, with the Mawile planted to the ground in a fighting stance waiting for the attack. With a quick hand signal from Manuel, the Noivern climbed into flight and prepared to dive down onto the seemingly minuscule Mawile. The Noivern though hesitated at the last second in a calculated move, opening its fangs and letting out an intense blast of flame in a precise beam down towards the Mawile.

 _The Noivern looks right, but something about it seems off._

Andreas called for the Mawile to move, and it responded quickly, leaping to safety not a moment too soon. But the Noivern, seeking to press the advantage did not relent its attack. It turned quickly to hopefully catch the Mawile unaware with the boiling hot flames. The Mawile seemed tired with being on the chase, so it leapt into the air towards the dragon, causing the Noivern to flinch and latched onto the Dragon with its claws, bashing it repeatedly with a fairy-type attack that I hadn't seen before.

"It's called 'Play Rough'" Andreas shouted to me, "Pretty good, huh?"

I nodded as the Noivern managed to shake the Mawile from its grasp and the dragon clattered into the ground. The struggling Noivern was then covered in a dark shroud, eventually revealing what everyone knew already. Manuel's Zoroark played the part rather well despite being at a severe disadvantage. But even after the trick had been revealed, again something seemed very wrong. The Zoroark's hands were for some reason much smaller than they should've been and then as I glared towards its face, I finally realized what was going on.

 _That's a Ditto!_

The overly simplified face and trying to remember the Zoroark's appearance had done in Manuel's double-sleight of hand. Even so, the Zoroark-Ditto had a trick up its sleeve. When the Mawile landed, the Zoroark-Ditto cast its minuscule hands together creating a massive ball of energy and sending a heavy, hazy wave of blue towards the Mawile in a flash. The wave caught the Mawile off guard, sending it flying up against the glass with a heavy thud, once it hit the ground, it was barely moving and the hybrid was bounding in to finish it off.

I blew my whistle.

"FRITZ! HOL IHN!"

Fritz roared angrily in reply, sprinting off to get in front of the Zoroark-Ditto with ease. He butted heads with the dark type, staggering it back in shock that Fritz had gotten there so quick. I rushed over to look at the Mawile, still struggling on the ground. I looked over to Andreas and shook my head.

"No problem, Gunter," Andreas said with a chuckle as he came over and recalled the Mawile into its ball, "Guess I have some work to do. Can't believe that asshole was running a Ditto the whole time."

"He's going to have to come up with some other trick now," I replied with a hearty laugh, rushing back to my spot on the center line, with Fritz pushing the Zoroark back into its spot with Manuel. Andreas then sent out his Medicham, still laughing. Then something rather surprising happened, our laughing for some reason spread to the Ditto, who had started laughing itself for some reason. As a result, it was no longer able to keep up its rather poor facade, and returned to being a disappointing purple blob.

That set everyone off. Almost everyone was laughing at the great trickster being revealed as a Ditto, and Manuel was growing more red in the face by the moment. I was pretty sure I heard Lucie completely lose herself over the whole episode.

But, the time for screwing around was over. Fritz returned to my side, and as soon as I was satisfied with everything, I blew my whistle again and the match was resumed.

Andreas quickly brought up his black wristband, pressing down a big colored button. The Medicham began to levitate, surrounded by pink and grey energy bands, and then broke out of it, revealing its Mega Evolution form. Four hand like wisps surrounded it, while the true hands were pressed together, and an much more elaborate head piece adorned the crown of the pokémon's head. It had the cold stare of a real fighter.

Not a moment later, once the Medicham touched down, Andreas quickly shouted, "High jump kick!" It was a risky attack since the accuracy of such a difficult move was nowhere near guaranteed. But since the Medicham was feeding off the desperation of Andreas, it knew the stakes. The Ditto did its best to avoid it, appearing in small flashes everywhere so it could land a quick attack of some sort. The Medicham seemed completely unperturbed by any of it as it flew gracefully through the air. It was going towards a particular spot not far from the direct center and it landed on the Ditto perfectly, sending the amorphous blob skidding into the ground all the way back to Manuel.

Out cold.

I blew my whistle, and Manuel knew his transformer was done, quickly recalling it. "Now it is time for the real fun, Andreas!"

The big boss had arrived. The Torterra smashed its feet into the ground upon arrival, shaking what felt like the whole building, letting out a guttural roar. Fritz didn't look too eager about taking his chances with that monster, luckily he didn't have to fight something like that head-to-head tonight.

I blew my whistle, and immediately the attacks went flying, razor leafs, zen headbutts, force palms, solar beams. It went back and forth for what seemed like forever. Neither was able to quite make hits on the other. The Torterra, despite its size, was using its incredible offensive power as a defense against the more nimble Medicham, forcing the fighting-psychic mega to break from its attack to avoid more damage.

Manuel seemed to be getting frustrated, I knew what he wanted to do, he had one trick left and it was going to really shake the place. Literally.

"Erdbeben!"

 _The Earthquake…_

And then everything turned blurry, the whole arena shook violently from the Torterra's power, the Medicham was barely able to maintain focus through it. I could definitely see it wavering, but by God somehow it was still standing there, resolute. Fritz was hanging onto the ground as if his life depended on it, and I was barely able to remain on my feet. I heard the cracking and smashing of one or two of the panes of glass as they fell down to the floor outside the arena. Through the shaking and vibrating, the Medicham took to the air again, spinning itself into another attack, letting its right hand fly out which began to glow a dull bright bluish-white.

I smirked.

The Medicham came down like a missile, smashing into the side of the Torterra with its last move, ice punch. The attack sent ice shards flying in several directions, which Fritz deftly took care of the ones flying towards himself and I with his fiery breath. The Torterra slumped to the ground with a massive clatter, sending dust and dirt up in several directions. The Medicham landed calmly in front of it as Andreas made his way over, with myself and Fritz in tow.

"Wow."

That was all Andreas could say. Manuel recalled the Torterra with a rather large smile on his face as he and Andreas shared a big hug. As ever, Manuel was courteous in defeat, and couldn't shut up about how amazing the spectacle looked. Funny enough, when I looked up to the glass panes where everyone was watching from the bar, they were all standing, cheering, and clapping. I looked to Fritz and he just did his little shrug.

"Thanks for keeping everything in line," Manuel said with a wink as he handed me an envelope, "Sorry for all the secrets. Turns out I had something you didn't even expect!"

"Well, I was certainly surprised, I must admit," I laughed as Fritz bounded up over towards Manuel.

"And you did a good job too, alte junge!" Manuel chirped with his hands on his hips as the Arcanine planted himself in front of the red-haired trainer.

Fritz just barked happily back, slobbering Manuel with a warm lick on the face.

"Alright, alright! Good boy!" Manuel laughed as he went and gave Fritz a pat on the head.

Andreas followed suit with an envelope of his own, Medicham at his side still.

"Great as always, Gunter," Andreas smiled, "Thanks for helping us put on a good show."

"No problem, you two," I replied, shaking the envelopes in my hand, "I might just stick around if you keep this up!"

We all had a laugh together as we walked back out to continue the fun for a couple more hours.


	2. Mehr Quatsch

Ch.2 Mehr Quatsch

The work night at Ulli's finished at around three in the morning. Combined with the commute on the trains back to the hostel, I wasn't walking in the door of the building until around four. The hostel was actually alright. I didn't mind having a fairly small room to myself for the price I paid. The only real problem was keeping everyone under control in that space.

When I came in the early, early morning, the glass windows showed a fairly empty common area, with a few up late still playing card games with friends or having some time to themselves after the hectic hours of the day. I buzzed in, and received some muted greetings from the night owls. I took off my leather jacket and slung it over my shoulder. My head barely maintained its upright position. The Friday into Saturday shift always took a big effort to get through in one piece. I slowly made my way up the stairs and down the warmly lit hallway to my oasis in the metropolis.

A turn of key took me into calm, beckoning silence of the dark. I flicked on the my lamp, stowing away my battle belt. I took all six of the pokéballs to my desk and sat down, resting my eyes for a few moments. The room itself wasn't anything particularly special. A small bed which had been liberated from a bunk set, with pale white sheets sat in the opposite corner from the desk in the square room. My desk, if you could even call it that, was a faux-wood rectangle, barely able to contain all the papers, materials, and trainer related items I had. There were a few sleeping pads lying over the hardwood, paneled floor which were impromptu beds for the ones that required them.

I listened to my slow breathing for another couple more minutes to calm myself. Then, I took four of the pokéballs and released their inhabitants. Fritz felt overjoyed to finally be out and home, anxiously pacing around the room waiting for me to be ready to sleep. Kage, without any acknowledgement, simply took to one of the sleeping pads. The umbreon curled up to sleep without a single sound.

The next one up and about was my lucario, Hala. I had adopted him almost 5 years back when I was finishing up Gymnasium. He had been found during the night by volunteer shelter workers, badly beaten and almost dead from what I had gathered. Hala had been a menace in the pound and to the people who attempted to adopt him. That was until the day I came by, when his demeanor changed to an extreme calmness. Many of the workers there took it as a sign that he had sensed and chosen me as his next trainer. Needless to say, I accepted him into my crazy family and he had been a crucial part of my battling team. We also got along fairly well, so that was a positive.

Hala seemed almost invisible in the dark as he walked around me to sit down on one of the mats next to my desk. He crossed his arms, and just sat there in his usual nonchalant manner. He did seem slightly annoyed. I didn't actually need him to step in for Fritz today, and Hala prided himself on doing his part and putting in some work.

"I'm sorry Hala, I know you wanted to," I shrugged, "You'll be up first next time."

He glanced over at me and nodded just ever so slightly.

"Besides, there's definitely going to be some time later today to get some training in, alright? Don't be so down in the dumps."

Hala just let out a sigh if I could call it that, as Bergesser, my gogoat, brushed up against my leg. She'd been a long-time friend of mine. My second ever Pokémon after officially receiving Fritz, Bergesser was definitely part of the 'glue' that kept the team together. She seemed to have a way of always keeping everyone happy and motivated.

Of course, by this time of night Bergi, as most everyone knew her, was starving since she had the appetite of a human teenager. I went over to the small refrigerator that was in the entry hallway of my room and grabbed a whole head of lettuce out of it. I simply tossed it to her usual spot on the sleeping mat near the head of my bed, and Bergi quickly set herself on devouring it. Hala briefly opened his eyes at the sound of her furious gorging; he shook his head and smirked a little before he returned to his rest.

With everyone readying themselves for bed, I took my leave to take a shower and prepare myself for some well-earned rest. My early morning showers on these days were some of my only moments to myself, so I definitely took my sweet time in there. Time seemed to move slowly as I stood with my face in the hot jet stream of water thinking about anything and everything. Of course, I couldn't spend my whole life in there, nor could I afford to spend a fortune on my water bill, so the solitude had to come to an end.

With a quick clean up, I threw on a plain t-shirt and some shorts as I shuffled slowly over to my cot, with Fritz laying next to it, half asleep, with one eye barely cracked open. Once he saw me, he raised his head slightly, wagging his tail as I hopped over him into bed. As much as Fritz yearned for the old days when he was a wee Growlithe and could climb into bed with me, those times were long past. The closest he could do was push his back up against the bed, laying on his side so I could rest my left arm on him.

The air was now still, containing only the few breaths from my Pokémon. I stared up at the ceiling in the darkness. A small smile grew on my lips as Fritz eventually dozed off, and I reminisced about the times back at the farm with him. To think how far I'd come from a small kid in the fields to working in the big city, was something I could've scarcely imagined then. And with that warm conclusion, my mind snoozed and I silently fell asleep.

* * *

I slept pretty soundly until about 11 in the morning. My stomach seemed to function as my alarm clock most of the time after the long night shifts at Ulli's. Fritz's head had already popped up at my slight movement. He then jolted upright and turned to me, his tongue hanging out in anticipation for the first round of eating for the day. With my disheveled hair and tired eyes, a small groan was all I could muster as I pushed myself out of bed and into some clothes I could be seen in public in. It really was just my work outfit for Ulli's just with a t-shirt instead of the usual polo. After arousing Kage, Hala, and Bergi, I recalled everyone so I could get them quickly downstairs for the meal.

At the hostel, everyone would just make meals in the big kitchen we all shared on the first floor, which had a nice big seating area in the central courtyard just outside so everyone and their Pokémon had plenty of room to spread out.

Isaak and Lucie were already down with some of the others exchanging small talk when I stumbled in with my battle belt slung over my shoulder.

"Der König finally awakes from his slumber," Isaak chirped with a wave as the rest of his group joined in with their chuckling.

"Yeah, and you didn't have to lock-up last night," I snapped back with a smile, wagging my finger at him, "Maybe I should speak to Roland about giving you my shift more often."

Isaak then feigned panic for a few moments, raising his hands to his face in mock terror, but quickly returned to a hearty laugh. I laughed for a moment myself as I pulled some of my groceries out of the fridge as Lucie came over and helped me start making food for everyone.

"Why don't you get off of your ass and help?" Lucie said with a smirk as she turned on one of the small stove tops.

"Ach, I guess I do need to pull my own weight around here…" Isaak replied as he strolled over and began helping.

We kept it simple when we were all cooking, since for the most part, I couldn't cook anything except barbecue worth a damn. Isaak functioned mainly as the supplier for everything, along with fueling his fruit addiction by eating as he 'helped' by getting us what we needed. Lucie was the main cook around here and honestly I was surprised that she wasn't a chef somewhere at a big time restaurant in the city the first time we did this. When I told her that, she just smiled and said,

"Well, I'm glad someone around here understands the value of good food!"

Once I spread the word about that, everyone quickly turned on to the prospect of great food all the time, so we decided to just try a big cookout for lunch when we could manage it. It made everyone happy and helped everyone cut down on food prices somewhat, which was very ideal.

After an hour or so, everything was ready and we all headed outside to chow down. I took this moment to release everyone from their Pokéballs. Fritz, Kage, Hala, and Bergi were all eager to eat something and rushed over to our usual corner off to the left side.

" _About time you let me out."_

 _Well, sorrrrry Äon. Next time, I won't let you out at all!_

" _Hmmph."_

No one heard this conversation between myself and the blue and white Latios that was hovering just ever so slightly above me, with his peering black eyes surveying everyone around us. The story of Äon is a long, and rather strange tale. I am, to this day, unsure of why he ever chose me to be his trainer. He always reiterated to me it was because of my potential. But even as a sixteen year old, with all my hubris, I was still unsure in his assessment of me. Most people found his presence unsettling due to the unique marking on his chest. Instead of the typical red triangle found on other Latios, Äon had a yellow triangle. The mark denoted Äon as one of the famous Fifteen Stars, a legendary Latios and Latias pack from the fairytale 'Lied von Sterne'. Most people didn't think they even existed until I brought him around. Most everyone here didn't care much at all anymore. He was just another one of the family.

Äon could really only talk to me fully through telepathy. Isaak and Lucie he could get broken words through to since he had been around them enough. But since he had been with me so much for almost six or seven years, we had a very strong connection.

" _Finally cooked the good stuff again?" Äon's voice soared with excitement, "It's about time!"_

 _It's strange to think in terms of your lifespan you're my age._

" _Strange to you."_

 _Fair enough._

My last Pokémon, Akui, was a Crobat. He, much like Kage, stayed off his own and had a little perch in the corner that he sat himself on and just contented himself with his meal. He was the first wild Pokémon that I battled with Fritz. I had caught him not far from the farm and raised him up to evolve into a Crobat. Akui was an inseparable part of my battling team, and really anchored the team with his ability to set up transitions perfectly between other Pokémon due to his move-set. Although no one mentioned it, Akui undoubtedly was an absolutely crucial part of how I battled.

After a few minutes, I managed to make a plate of food for everyone, and everyone busied themselves with eating as I plopped down onto Fritz's side, using him as an impromptu seat. Isaak soon joined me with his Glaceon, Clara. They both took a seat on the ground in front of me as they ate away, but Clara glanced up ever so often over at Kage.

Both Isaak and I knew that Clara had fancied Kage for a while now and we both found it pretty funny about how shy she was about it. Kage honestly could've cared less about the whole thing and didn't really pay attention to any of it.

"Oh, go on Clara!" Isaak said, shaking his head, "You can go sit next to him, he's not going to scare you off. Kage's a big softie, don't worry."

Clara looked up to Isaak slightly embarrassed, seemingly taking Isaak's words as a scolding. She cowered back to her eating, and didn't look up at Kage anymore. Kage, unsurprisingly, was oblivious to what had happened. He only just now glanced over towards Clara, twitched his ears, and then returned to his food.

"You scared her again, you really need to just let her work it out. She's smart enough to handle herself," I snapped at Isaac.

"Oh come on, she hasn't done anything at all yet and still won't go and at least try to even sit next to him."

"It all comes with time. Kage needs to decide if that's something he wants too, you know."

"Alright, love guru. I'll leave her alone. Maybe I'll have to ask your girlfriend over at the shelter if she agrees with that approach."

"Oh, leave Emmi out of this for christ's sake!" I shouted back at him, immediately embarrassing myself in front of everyone once I realized what I had revealed.

 _Damn it._

" _Just played right into his hands."_

"So that's her name! Haha! I was always wondering why you were spending so much time over there," Isaak said triumphantly, pumping his fist.

I sighed, "I met her at a bar not to long ago. She's been a breath of fresh air honestly. It's been a while since I've had someone like her I could talk to."

"Don't feel ashamed, Gunter," Lucie called, poking her head out of the door to the kitchen, "You gotta start somewhere."

She winked and quickly disappeared back inside. I sighed again.

"You know, I'm just giving you a hard time," Isaak continued, his face contorted by genuine concern, "I'd never do anything to get in the way between you two. I'm sorry if I riled you up."

"It's fine. I know you all too well. Well, I guess we both know each other too well," I smirked.

"Amen," Isaak replied, raising his right hand in an imaginary toast, "And we haven't scared each other off yet. So I'd count that as a victory."

"Too right," I answered as I pushed myself up and retrieved my team's licked clean plates, "I'll catch you later, Isaak."

"Sure thing, Günter, see you around."

* * *

To the idealists, the S-Bahn ride to Friedrichstraße would've sobered them up about the 'paradise' of Germany. Drunkards and drug addicts were passed out in the seats across the train from me. As I assumed my post again by the door, my eyes wandering sadly around at the other sorry occupants of the train. A woman was on the phone yelling at their spouse, while her young daughter kicked her feet for her own entertainment in blissful ignorance a few rows down. A guy came up and down the train hoping to peddle his socialist newspapers, without you getting one of course.

To all this, I never smiled. It was just another part of life here. Germany suffered from the modern times too. Whether or not the people would wake up from the false dream was not my concern anymore. I had my own goals to chase.

I rolled into Ulli's around one o'clock to find the bar empty. Well, except for Von Saudek. He was mopping the floor for the millionth time it seemed. The stains of bodily fluids never fully ever got out of the wooden floor. Roland stopped his work when he heard the door shut behind me. We both headed over to the bar as I took a seat, and he went behind the counter as the TVs above continued spitting their nonsense.

"Sorry about keeping you late last night," Roland said as he grabbed a bottle of beer out of the fridge under the counter and popped it open on the edge of the fridge door, "A few of the others had to leave early. You're one of the few I trust to get the important stuff in order down there."

I waved him off, "Ach, it's nothing. You hired me to do a job, and that's what I'm here to do. I have many mouths to feed." I pointed to my battle belt around my waist with a chuckle.

"I always wanted more than one, but that's all I have time for right now," Roland chuckled as he gestured over to his Talonflame sitting on his wooden perch up above the TVs and the bar. The red and white bird turned his head in a flash at the gesture and quickly glided down to the bar. He landed with a thud and scurried over to me, giving my hair a light peck with his beak. He didn't ever come down much when the place was busy. A couple people swore he was 'präpariert.'

"Really, Schu?" I smirked as I gave him a scratch under his head and Schu quickly rotated his head in approval.

"Tal-oon," he cooed, eliciting a smile from Roland.

"Ok Schu, raus! Raus! I do have to have this place clean at some point!" He said picking up his voice, not really a shout, just more of a relaxed command.

Schu didn't protest and returned to his post happily. He satisfied himself with staring down at us from then on.

"So," Roland resumed, "What's the plan for you and Matthias?"

"I don't know," I quickly responded, "Probably the usual three hours before things get busy, it is Saturday after all. We might go over to Kreuzberg or Neukölln later. Just depends on how the training goes most likely."

Roland nodded knowingly with a smile, "Naturally, you'll need those hours of training for when you're a professional! Go and live a little, life's not just training."

"I know, I know," I surrendered, not wanting to subject myself to another lecture, "I'll go."

"That's a good kid," he clapped as I headed off towing my backpack towards the dojo, "I'll let Matthias in when he gets here, and I'll see you later!"

My journey down to the battlefield was accompanied only by the pounding of my feet along the floor. A clunk of the door into the main room, and the almost painful silence and emptiness took over the whole dojo. It was always strange to be in here after a full night of work to be greeted by such stillness and calm. I let myself in past the front desk, heading back to the main battle zone. Once there, I threw my backpack up against the protective wall just outside the entrance, grabbing out my battle belt and fastening it at my waist.

After a moment of readying myself, I let out Hala, and he seemed eager to get started. The Lucario was cocking his head left and right in his preparation 'ritual' if you could call it that as he leaned up against the wall towards the rear of what would be my zone to the right. Hala was glaring impatiently after a few moments. As much as I knew how he felt, I had no control over it.

"You want to fight me?" I asked sarcastically to the pokémon. It appeared to make Hala chuckle or something similar which seemed to loosen him up a little. I walked over to him and held out my clenched fist, which he quickly bumped with his own. "We do this together, all the way, alright?"

Hala nodded firmly now, crossing his arms. I gave him a pat on the shoulder as I returned to the entrance as I heard the metal clang of the door from across the dojo. A few more moments of pacing later, in came Matthias Bruhn, clad in a black t-shirt with 'Spitz' written across it in red letters. He dressed a bit more casual than me with his athletic shorts and grey running shoes. After depositing his large brown leather duffel bag on the ground near the door, Matthias straightened out his very regular cut hair and came over to me to exchange a quick handshake.

"Better late than never," I snarked, as we clutched hands for a brief moment.

"Well you're screwed without me, so you're absolutely correct," Matthias chuckled, grabbing his own red battle belt from his bag. He glanced over towards Hala, with a much more serious expression, "How's life Hala? Tired of this guy yet?"

Hala smirked and shook his head.

"Too bad," Matthias said, tsking all the way to the opposite side of the zone, "Alright, Hala, I've got quite the guy for you to go up against. I know you're not going to like it, but this is how you get better."

Matthias unlatched one of the pokéballs from his belt, releasing its rather large occupant in an instant.

 _Well, he's right, Hala is not going to be happy._

Hala's opponent was a Charizard, already roaring and chomping at the bit to get after Hala. I looked over my shoulder to Hala, who seemed almost frozen in place. His eyes were locked in place on the dragon-esque pokémon, overwhelmed by the fear. I stood in from of him and locked my hands on his shoulders.

"Look at me, don't look over there."

His eyes didn't budge.

"SCHAU MICH AN!"

His eyes slowly wavered up to meet mine. I didn't fail to notice him gulping down a breath nervously.

"You can't let this get to your head. What if this happens in a real match? Are you going to freeze up like right now? Hala, I know there's that part in your head screaming to run, but you won't be able to sometimes. We do this together, all the way, right?"

After my pep-talk, he seemed much more relaxed, his shoulders had dropped and his arms were relaxed, and his breathing was back to normal. He slowly began nodding to me after about half a minute.

"Alright then, go kick his ass," I snarled as I held out my fist, and Hala lifted his paw and clenched it. He then smacked down on mine hard. "Geez, a little softer next time," I muttered under my breath.

Hala stepped out towards the charizard who was growing ever-more impatient with Hala's slow approach.

"Alright then," Matthias said, placing the charizard's ball back in his belt, "Do your worst, Hala!"

The charizard unleashed a long held flamethrower attack, with Hala leaping into the air to avoid the attack and find a place to counter. Hala landed off to the charizard's left and charged up Aura Sphere in his right paw.

"Any attack is one less you have to land later! Give it to him!" I shouted, doing my best to encourage him.

Hala acted on my advice in an instant, landing a solid hit on the Charizard's back, even though it barely staggered the orange giant and only seemed to aggravate it even more. Hala, worked up on his own kind of adrenaline, pressed even harder, peppering the opposing Pokémon with poison jabs. Hala had worked out the size of the Charizard was its major flaw. The Lucario seemed to be dancing around, launching attack after attack from every direction until the Charizard finally decided to take to the air and end the harassment.

"Alright," Matthias clapped, pleased with Hala's effort, "Now you're going to have to find a way to bring him down. That Aura Sphere probably isn't going to do much, so creativity is key. Use the arena or summon some strength to get yourself up there."

Hala seemed to be relishing the challenge now, his fears from a few minutes before seemed as if they were hours gone. What was even more surprising was Hala's method to get up to the Charizard, who was already raining down more flamethrower attacks down on his head. I had to get out of the way as he built up speed running around the zone, eventually breaking off in a line towards the Charizard. He shook the ground as he slammed himself up into the air, then fired an aura sphere down at the ground to propel himself even further upwards at speed.

"Holy shit!" Matthias and I yelled in unison.

Hala spun himself into a windup for a close combat attack, which even now would probably do enough to end it for the Charizard.

The impact was massive. The orange monstrosity crashed down to the ground in a heap as the hits kept coming from Hala. After the dust settled, Hala was standing over his opponent breathing heavily, his left paw clenched waiting to see if the charizard was finished. The pokémon raised its head in a massive struggle, but it collapsed, it's eyes shut.

"Mein Gott," Matthias spat, "Where the hell did he learn that, Gunter?"

"I…I have no idea."

At a loss for words, I walked over to Hala who dropped from his feet, exhausted. He looked up to me with a tired smile, and I gave him a hug around his neck.

"Way to go, buddy," I said as I embraced him like a brother, "You did me proud."

Hala nodded firmly. I helped him back up to his feet as I took him over to my bag and gave him some food and took care of some of the bruises he had earned across his body. Matthias, after recalling the KO'ed charizard came over and gave Hala a slap on the shoulder.

"That's some world cup level stuff there, Hala. Keep it up," Matthias smirked as he went to his bag, grabbing some water for everyone, "Ready for number two?"

"I haven't done anything," I replied, "And I feel like I've been through hell."

"Well, that's what a good trainer should feel. You wonder why I always say you're the real deal? That's it. Now come on, champs aren't made sitting on their ass all day."

"Alright," I recalled Hala, and let out Fritz, who was bounding around, ready for his chance to battle, "Let's show 'em what we're made of."


	3. Seltsame Leute

Ch.3 Seltsame Leute

It wasn't even six in the evening yet, but everyone was wiped out. A silent ride back to the hostel, and once the gang was left to their own devices in my room, sprawling out seemed to be the consensus on what to do for the rest of the day.

Fritz, for the first time in months, no longer bounded about with reckless abandon. He had curled up against the side of my cot, squinting and wincing in pain every few moments as he tried to make himself comfortable. I went over to him and attached some heating pads to his legs to help him recover somewhat. It would help him feel well enough to make the trip home to the farm to get everyone healed before the show-off tournament at Ulli's on Monday. Fritz stopped struggling after another minute or two as I sat down next to him and stroked his fur under his chin. He looked up towards me with a warm smile as he drifted off to sleep.

With the big dog taken care of, I went over to Kage, who was curled up on his mat, bruised somewhat on his back from his defensive training. I got out from my small closet a blacklight lamp and set it up to shine down from on top of him from the window ledge. Kage stirred slightly, turning to lie flat on his stomach with his legs sprawled out in all directions as he let himself begin to snooze.

Hala was in his usual spot next to my desk, clutching at his sore chest. Even though it appeared that he hadn't taken any hits from that charizard, Hala had actually taken quite the shot right before he landed the finishing blow. The charizard had struck him in the center of his chest, and it wasn't until after everything was done that Hala showed he was in some pain. I had mixed up some iron and protein supplements for him in some ground beef which I knew he liked and left in a bowl for him. Hala thanked me with a quick nod as he carried out his gorging.

Akui was hanging upside down on the pseudo-tree branch that I had attached to the ceiling over near where my desk was. He seemed fairly content since I had fed him a pretty potent arsenic supplement and that kickstarted his metabolism into overdrive most times. Akui was probably the only one who never really seemed to need a full healing, but he definitely performed better when he did get it.

Bergesser was nipping at my legs, desperate for her cellulose treats which she had an unhealthy addiction to. A couple of weeks ago, I had accidentally left a full bag of the treats open on my desk and in the middle of night she got into them. When I woke up in the morning, she was passed out on the desk in a food coma, snoring like crazy.

I threw a handful of the cellulose pellets on her sleeping mat, and the gogoat leaped over to them and eradicated them within a few moments. Of course she tried begging for more, but I was wise to her charms.

As for Äon, he was cloaked in a small shelter up on the roof of the hostel that my friends and I had all built for the bird pokémon. Naturally, it worked really well for Äon since he liked to be away from all this and on his own. All I ever really had to give him was a special painkiller that was made for psychic types and it would knock him out for the most part. I trusted him to stay out of trouble with having free reign up there, and he never did anything to betray it.

With everyone heading off to sleep, it was time to ready myself for a night out on the town. It certainly still was Saturday night, and you didn't just stay home on a nights like these in Berlin. In fact, I was actually going on a double date with Emmi, and Matthias and his girlfriend. I was kinda nervous about finally introducing Emmi to some of my friends and people in my trainer circle. But, Matthias and his girlfriend were probably the best and nicest introduction I could give.

I threw on a nice blue flannel shirt and some khaki pants with my everyday starch white trainers. I went around and gave my goodbyes to everyone in the room one by one. Hala was still sitting upright and the only one awake.

"You're in charge of these idiots while I'm gone. Keep them out of trouble, alright?" I said holding my fist out to him.

He bumped it back and smirked, probably laughing at the idea of keeping any of the others under any sort of control.

After combing my hair and making myself somewhat presentable, I headed downstairs to meet up with Matthias who had dropped off his things back at his employer, Spitz Training, and made himself comfortable in the lobby watching TV. How I had made friends with someone like Matthias, I'm not really sure. I had stumbled into him after a match at one of the other dojos on Ziegelstraße and we got talking about a lot of things. Most of his work with Spitz is helping to coach and condition professional trainers and their pokémon. For some reason, he thought I had enough potential to deserve countless hours of assistance. Every time I attempted to pay him for it, he refused to take any money. Matthias always said it was the nice thing to do for a friend, and the company didn't mind since he was the one refusing to take pay and still would take care of the fees if something bad happened.

"Took you a while to get the kids settled down, huh?" Matthias smirked in his black dress shirt and blue jeans. He crossed his legs as I came over and joined him on the couch.

"They were alright today actually. You can tell when we've worked them hard, because even Fritz was desperate for a nap."

"That joker," Matthias chuckled, "Well at least that makes it a little less likely that there won't be any major chaos while we're gone."

"Äon knows where I'm gonna be," I replied, rubbing my chin, "He can take charge if Hala can't contain the revolt."

"Well, when a god tells you to get in line, I think I would listen."

"Too right."

"Well, we better get going, I know Karolin is probably just as desperate to eat as we are," Matthias groaned as he worked himself up from the couch.

I followed suit and we were outside, in his four-door Seinzler silver sedan, and on the way to pick the Karolin up within a minute or so. After maybe two minutes of driving we ran by Matthias' apartment and picked up Karolin who was waiting outside for us.

Karolin was probably one of the nicest people I'd ever had the fortune to meet. When I first came to Berlin, and had made friends with Matthias, she especially helped me getting settled and finding a job. They let me stay at their place for a month, sleeping on the couch until I could get somewhere for myself. I was forever indebted for their kindness towards me.

Matthias and I got out to say hello, and Karolin could get in the front seat and I would move to the back.

Karolin was just as tall as Matthias, around one and three quarters meters tall. She had long blonde hair that went down to around her elbows. Never really one to use garish amounts of makeup, Karolin's slightly tanned face was rather plain, with her brown eyes being the main focal point. She was wearing a fuzzy, red long sleeved sweater with zig-zag designs on it. She wore jeans just like the rest of us too.

"Hey, good to see you Gunter," Karolin quickly came over and greeted me with a small hug, "Been a while since we had a chance to talk. I'm interested to meet this mysterious _friend_ of yours."

"Haha," I replied nervously, "Well, hopefully everything will go smoothly."

"If anything goes wrong," Matthias proclaimed as we got back into his car, "Just blame it on me. I can take it."

"I don't think that's going to be necessary," Karolin said, shaking her head as we made our way over to the dinner spot. Emmi had texted and said that she would just meet us there, that she was running a little late since she had to work past her shift at the animal shelter today.

"So, how did you meet this girl, Gunter?" Matthias continued, trying to remove the silence.

"Chance, I guess. I was at a bar with some school friends who were in town, and I bumped into her at the counter and we started talking. The rest just kinda came naturally. We haven't had a lot of time to meet up since she's busy with her job at the animal shelter."

"Yeah, I can imagine," Matthias spoke as he turned to the right to head towards Kreuzberg, "It's a shame stuff like that happens."

We all sat in silence pondering that, until we arrived at the restaurant which was just a few minutes away from the main train station, and was on the banks on the Spree in a really nice park. The Chancellor of Germany's house was actually right across the river from it, a overly-modern, glass, garish white building that was honestly an eyesore. But most people didn't really have the guts to admit it.

Wollpacker's biergarten was already pretty full, but luckily, Emmi had arrived a bit earlier and had saved a table over on the side where we had an unobstructed view of the river and the skyline of city.

Emmi was slightly shorter than myself, with brown hair tied back up in a short ponytail and her small bangs down to the sides of her face. She was probably the palest of all of us, and her green eyes definitely shone in contrast as a result. Emmi never wore anything fancy, but she definitely wasn't underdressed with a nice white button-up shirt and black pants. When she saw me she got up and we shared a hug along with quick kisses on each others' cheeks. With the…pleasantries out of the way, I got everyone introduced quickly. Since the place was still counter service, Matthias and Karolin offered to go get the food and drinks for everyone and give us a minute or two alone. Matthias gave me the most obvious wink multiple times and had almost killed me in embarrassment.

"I guess that's what friends are for," I sighed sarcastically, with Emmi chuckling at my act, "How'd your day go?"

"It was…interesting. We had quite the load, some guy brought in a whole litter of Schnauzer puppies so it was crazy trying to get them under control. A couple of dog fights broke out between some of the usual troublemakers," she said glumly, flicking her hair out of her eyes, "Glad I could make it here today though."

"Me too," I smiled.

Matthias came back for a fraction of a second with a round of beer for everyone and then rushed back away.

"I can see why you two are friends," Emmi snarked as she took a sip from her beer glass, "He knows what we all need."

I laughed, "Well, he has to be good for something."

About five minutes later, Karolin and Matthias came back carrying a tray filled with all sorts of food. Matthias for the first time in his life had remembered to get weißwürst, which was probably my favorite food on the entire planet. There was also some sauerkraut, bread rolls that everyone called brötchen, the Berlin-famous currywürst, diced fried potatoes, and some salad so we could pretend we were slightly healthy. After a quick 'Prost', we all began eating and the massive questionnaire began.

"So, Emmi, where did you grow up?" Matthias asked.

"I'm actually from Potsdam, so not far from here at all. I came out here once I passed my Abitur to go to veterinary school here in Berlin."

"Oh, so is the animal shelter job a sort of internship?" Karolin inquired next.

"Yeah, it was the easiest one I could get. A lot of the other stuff is very competitive since the hours are not as bad. So, I took the hit and decided to get some real first-hand experience."

"That's really cool," Karolin continued, "I have to say I don't really know anyone in that field at all, so to meet someone who's really into that is really neat."

"Thanks," Emmi replied, with a slight blush, "No one really has ever said anything like that about my job. How about yourself, Matthias?

"Pwah, I'm nowhere as interesting as that. I grew up in Pankow, and I wasn't even close to making Gymnasium. I basically started working when I was sixteen as a coach for pokémon and their trainers. It took six years to get a job with Spitz since you have to have a fairly rigorous resumé to get accepted for a position there. I deal more with a pokémon's battling aspects, the how and why of attacking or defending in certain ways. More strategy, in simpler terms I suppose, but that's boring."

"I have to say the way you explained that made it really interesting," Emmi said, "I can see why people like you can really excel at something like that."

"So, what sort of things do you do in your free time?" Karolin asked.

"Well, that depends on actually having free time," she chuckled, "The rare occasion I do, I like to go to the park and just read a book. I find that to be a really nice and undervalued pastime. Beyond that, I can't say no to a good concert of any kind. I listen to pretty much anything and everything."

"Do you like Cro and Prinz Pi?" Matthias hurriedly asked.

"Of course! Who doesn't around these parts?"

Matthias grinned wide and nodded holding up his hand over the table for a high-five, which Emmi lightly returned, "She knows her stuff, Gunter."

I just smiled and shrugged at Matthias' giddy reaction. He never could say no to welcoming another music lover into the fold.

For a while after that Matthias and I got into a rather in-depth conversation about a pokémon's power and whether or not an individual pokémon knowing many different attacks or abilities had any sort of effect on overall strength of their moves. Emmi and Karolin went off on their own tangent since they didn't seem interested in such an abstract discussion.

"I don't know, I haven't seen anything from what I remember that an individual pokémon knowing more moves drops their attack power," Matthias said, circling one of his fingers around the top of his beer glass.

"From what I've tried with Äon, it seems to be the case. I guess it could be amplified because he has the psychic abilities, but it appears, at least to me, that having more overloads their mental capacity for efficiency and they can only compensate for that by dropping their overall…I guess, their finite understanding doesn't allow for it. I don't know. I'm probably sounding pretty crazy right about know."

"Yeah, you really are," Matthias replied, giving a slightly scolding look as we both broke into laughter, "I mean, that sounds like some astrology bullshit or something."

"Maybe, who knows…though…" my voice dropped as I noticed the potent silence next to me and across the table.

Karolin's face had gone a little pale and she was staring down at her lap in apparent shame. Emmi was grimacing, as if she was holding back an explosion from coming out of her head.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring it up," Karolin murmured.

"What?" Matthias and I both exclaimed in confusion.

"It's alright, don't worry about it," Emmi interjected, the explosion stored away and her face returned to normal. Karolin didn't come back all the way. She was mostly silent as Matthias and Emmi continued on with a conversation about very cliché topics, movies, stuff that was happening in the city, other restaurants that she liked to go to.

It wasn't until he brought up a certain question that again sent the conversation out of friendly waters.

"Do you ever work with Pokémon at—gaahhhh!" Matthias yelped in pain. I knew exactly where it was coming from. The pain originated from one of Karolin's patented shin kicks that she would often deliver to Matthias in jest. But…she directed the kick much harder this time. I had never seen him actually go down and clutch his leg from one of them before. And yet, that's exactly what Matthias was doing.

With _that_ happening the whole table went silent. I glanced over to Emmi to see if she was back to pissed mode and it didn't seem like it this time. She was staring down at her locked hands on the table, just silently pondering and thinking. I looked over to Karolin who was glaring daggers towards Matthias who still clutched his leg, in a poor attempt to ease the pain.

"Not really," Emmi finally answered, with the rest of us letting out a long breath of relief, "We mostly deal with neglected house-pets, we don't have the resources or room to deal with Pokémon. They have their own shelter down the street from us."

The rest of dinner went on rather awkwardly. No one dared to say anything further since tensions were so high, especially since Matthias and I didn't know what the hell was going on. A few minutes after that exchange of words, Emmi got an alert on her pager.

"Ah shit," Emmi cursed, "We got a few dogs out of surgery who've split their sutures and stitches and it's going to hell down there. They said to come only if you're available, so I don't have to go…"

"It's fine," Matthias interrupted, "They need all the help they can get. We're almost through anyways."

"Oh, ok, thanks," she smiled as she got up from her seat and gave me a hug goodbye, "It was nice meeting you two."

"Likewise," Matthias and Karolin replied, "Be careful."

"I will," Emmi said as she walked off.

Matthias and I remained still until it seemed that Emmi had left and then rotated in an instant towards Karolin.

"What the hell was that?!" Matthias yelled, "What the got Emmi so worked up?"

Karolin made a bad face at him, "It's not my fault she's touchy about talking about pokémon for some reason."

"Look we're not trying to give you shit," I intervened, calmly trying to defuse this situation, "What did you ask her?"

"I just asked her, what sort of pokémon were at the clinic, and she did… _that_ ," Karolin muttered, "I'm just as confused as you, I promise."

"Scheiße, that's a doozy," Matthias grunted as he downed the last of the beer in his glass, "I don't think anyone of us expected that result."

"Yeah…" I added, "I didn't really quite see that coming at all."

"Well, let's not spend any more money on beer when we've got plenty back at our place," Matthias interjected, as we cleaned up our plates and took them back to the counter. With that done, we all got back in Matthias' car and went back to his pad.

It was fairly dark outside by the time we arrived back at the unassuming, fairly drab modern apartment complex standing at about eight or so stories. Once we began up the stairway to their apartment, a flash of memories came rushing back from the many afternoons and nights I came running up these stairs to the only place I could really call anything like home.

A turn of the key at the beaten wooden door on the top floor, and a gentle darkness welcomed all of us back to the silence typically reserved for the countryside, not the inner city. As a few lights sputtered on, the pattering of feet changed from dull to distinct as an old friend emerged.

"Hey, Strom," Matthias chirped happily, as his Jolteon bounded towards him, leaping up on its hind legs to slobber his owner the best he could.

"Someone is happy you're home," Karolin smirked as she went to the fridge and brought over two six-packs of cold beer, "Been a while since you've seen him hasn't it Gunter?"

"Yeah," I replied with a faint smile as Strom came over and brushed up against my legs. I let myself down and sat with Strom, with the Jolteon throwing himself up in my lap so I could give him a 'much-needed' scratching. All the while, Matthias was cracking open beers and handed me one as I continued my duty.

"I think we need to quit spoiling him so much," Karolin laughed as she hopped on the kitchen counter, drinking her beer, "Strom might start thinking he's the one in charge around here."

I raised my eyebrow to that, "You _think_ he might?"

She burst into laughter, "Alright, he is, he most certainly is."

Matthias returned from his adventure off to somewhere else in the apartment, carrying a little jukebox, which was already playing some of the good stuff.

"Everyone else should be here in a few minutes," Matthias said as he hurried back away. He did notice our stares eventually, "Don't worry about me! Just getting more beer!"

Strom took that as his cue to leap up and take off after Matthias; the jolteon following behind as if he was Matthias' shadow.

"So, you're heading back home tomorrow?" Karolin asked. She finished off her beer after the question, grabbing another from the pack and tossed me another drink as well.

"Yeah," I grunted as I popped the bottle open with one of my keys, then took a rather satisfying drink after, "My dad has the stuff to get everyone healed up for the show-off event on Monday. I don't want to pay out the ass at the Pokémon Center if I don't have to."

"No kidding," she snorted, taking another drink, "I'm glad we don't have to worry about that as much. Fortunately, Spitz takes care of pretty much everything, along with most of the Pokémon that Matthias uses come from the company. As much as I think Strom would be fine with doing that all the time, I don't know if he could hold up doing that every day, week after week."

I nodded, "You just have to be incredibly proactive. It's hard, I have to admit. We all pretty much live and breathe in unison. In fact, I would be lying if I wasn't worried about them tonight. Fritz was a little rough after training really hard today. I've never seen him be so aggressive before."

"I think they know the stakes just as much as you do," Karolin smiled, "No matter what happens on Monday, I don't think you can disappointed."

"Sure," I frowned, "I've got everything riding on this. My dream hinges on whether or not I can win on Monday."

We both heard a large group of voices coming from beyond the front door and in the stairwell. The noise diverted our attentions for a moment, and then she finished our conversation with something that stuck with me for the rest of the night.

"Not if you do it right."

Those six words froze me. I had a million questions running through my head. But, before I was able to get a single word out, the front door opened. Matthias was carrying a crate of beer, and Strom carried a crate in his teeth. Isaak, Lucie, Roland, Andreas, and Manuel, all came in behind them and all began exclaiming their greetings, with handshakes, hugs, and high-fives all round.

Isaak immediately began complaining that the _real_ drinks were not out. He went over to one of the cabinets and took out a bottle of schnapps, and some shot glasses.

"You all better drink this, otherwise I'm gonna be singing by myself!" Isaak shouted as he got a high five from Manuel.

The schnapps and signing was a time honored tradition among any good drinking German. The typical one everyone sang was 'Zicke Zacke'. It originated as an old Prussian army marching cadence, but quickly was brought over to drinking, since the soldiers were often just as intense in their drinking ability as in their soldiering.

After we all had two shot glasses, or three for those bold ones, Matthias began the call.

"Zicke zacke zicke zacke!"

"Hoi Hoi Hoi!" We all shouted back.

"Was frisst die Kuh, was scheißt die Kuh?"

"Heu! Heu! Heu!"

One shot went down the pipes.

"Alles! Zicke zacke zicke zacke!"

"Hoi Hoi Hoi!"

We all downed our second shot, Isaak downed his last two in quick succession and then chugged his beer down, to cheers of everyone.

"Now that's good stuff!" Issak smiled as he planted his bottle back down on the counter.

When everyone began to settle down slightly, I felt Strom pawing at my legs, and I turned around to find him making a pouty face at me like he needed to go…erh, 'relieve' himself. I figured since everyone else was probably too occupied to care of him, I naturally accepted the duty. As soon as the door opened, Strom bolted down the stairs and out of sight. I didn't bother to hurry after him. Mainly due to having consumed a fair amount of alcohol just a minute or so before. I found Strom just outside the entrance to the complex, lifting up his leg to do his business. I just crossed my arms, planted myself along the wall, and took a few drinks of my beer. Strom didn't really seem to be in much of a hurry to get back upstairs. The Jolteon seemed to think it was a good idea to claw his way up my back to lay on my right shoulder, burying half of my face in his spiky fur. Even though Strom somewhat accomplished it, and I somehow didn't drop my bottle, it wasn't the most comfortable place to be in.

Not even a minute later, Matthias poked his head around the corner, smirking at my discomfort,

"Having fun, Gunter?"

"Don't know how much worse it can get now," I chuckled, scratching Strom's ears with my right hand.

"Well, that's what you get for being in our crazy family," Matthias admitted. He gave me a slap on the back as Strom finally made his way down and Matthias ordered his Pokémon back upstairs. "Look, I'm sorry about tonight. I guess Karolin and I equally screwed things up, so be sure and apologize to Emmi for us, ok?"

"Oh geez," I groaned, "I hardly can blame you guys for that. But, I'll be sure to pass that along. I think we're going to have a long talk about some things."

"Naturally. It's all part of life Gunter, don't beat yourself up about it. Not everyone just loves Pokémon without reservation, and that's natural. Just make sure she's the right one for you, and I'll be happy for you no matter what," Matthias said, putting an arm around my shoulder.

"I think I can do that," I snarked, as I handed over my beer bottle as I finished off the last dregs of alcohol, "I better get back, I have to catch my train tomorrow at nine."

"Alright, I will tell everyone you said goodbye," Matthias responded as he headed back off upstairs, "Tschüss, bruder."

"Tschüss, Matthias!" I yelled back.

Alone again. I had about a five minute walk to get to the U-Bahn station. The streets were relatively empty around this part of town at 'zero-hour'. Just the typical, big-city riff-raff and ne'erdowells doing their things. I personally disliked all of them. I didn't really see any point why anyone would give in to something like that and throw away money for temporary happiness. I lost several friends to drug overdoses and violence related to drug-dealing in high school. Some I had no idea they did it, others _everyone_ knew they did. I just walked with my hands in pockets, and whenever someone came up to me trying to sell their 'goods' whatever they were, I said "ничего". It was the only Russian I knew, and I had learned about its potency for driving people away from my father. He had learned it when he was in Moscow and his contact told him if he needed anyone to go away when they came up to him, ничего would do it. In Berlin, surprisingly, it did the job, either confusing or carrying out of the intended effect.

After heading down to the metro, the lights shining much too bright in my eyes, I quickly hopped on the U-Bahn right as it was about to leave. I found myself a seat in a corner, away from the passed out stoners and drunks, and let the time pass.

My mind wandered back to what Karolin said.

 **Not if you do it right.**

 _Do what right? If I don't win, there's no way I'm ever making it anywhere as a trainer._

I sighed to myself, as the train carried on, station after station. A young couple got on and were making out in the total opposite side of the car from me.

 _So much for love on a real train._

As the metro finally arrived at my stop, I picked myself up out the stained seat and went to the door. I was the only one getting off at the Kurfürstendamm stop, so I earned the honors of pressing the button to open the door. It flashed open, and I hurried out to get home and check on everyone.

A quick run down the street back to Olivaer Platz, and I was back in the hostel, giving my greeting once again to the night owls.

"Have fun at the party, Gunter?" One of them asked.

"Not enough," I answered back.

I took off up the stairs to my room to check on everyone, and much like I guessed, they were all fine and asleep. Even Hala had finally succumbed to exhaustion and was snoring along with the rest. I poked my head in for a moment, then quietly snuck out. I continued up to the roof to check on Äon, who was awake and had set himself up a corner of the big birdhouse which really just a big reinforced tent. I went and sat next to him as he glared right at me.

" _Back from your poisoning session?"_

 _Really clever._

" _Hmmph. How'd the date go?"_

 _About as well as expected. Not too great. There was a confrontation over the topic of pokémon. Emmi got upset if anyone brought it up. It seems I'm going to have a conversation with her._

" _I would say that's a good idea on your part. I've never quite been able to get a read on her. She keeps her thoughts guarded fairly well. I can't do all the work for you."_

 _Yeah. All in good time. We have more pressing things to attend to. You think everyone's ready for the tournament on Monday?_

" _As ready as we will ever be. We're ready to fight to the death, if you hadn't noticed."_

 _Well…I guess I hadn't. Karolin told me exactly that._

" _She's smart. You're very lucky to have people like Matthias and Karolin as your friends."_

 _They're more than friends, I would say._

" _A brother and a sister."_

 _Definitely. You think I could find someone like that?_

" _This again?"_

 _What?_

" _You keep doubting yourself and whether or not you're going to find someone. It's getting a little old dwelling on this."_

 _It's a real concern though, right?_

" _Sure. But I think you're overblowing things. Give it time. And go get some rest, don't we have somewhere to be tomorrow?"_

 _Yes, yes, dad. I know, I'm going._

" _Hmmph."_

With Äon's, order I went back downstairs to my room and carefully placed myself in bed after avoiding all the sleeping pokémon. Right before I closed my eyes, I gave Fritz a pat on his head, the Arcane stirring slightly but almost immediately returned to his dreaming. I then closed my eyes and drifted away…


	4. Das Original

Ch.4 Das Original

Unfortunately, my streak of sleeping in to about noon was broken. I was up getting my things together at around half past six, my eyes red as could be, and my brain wracked with grogginess as I threw some clothes and my grey leather jacket on. I didn't really need to wake the others up in my room, since calling them back into their pokéballs didn't really stir them much. I was certain they appreciated the gesture after all that training yesterday.

The only member of the team I had to give the wake-up call to was Äon, who was lightly snoozing when I made it to the rooftop, and almost instantly his bright eyes flashed open as I made my way over to him.

 _Guten Morgen, rise and shine._

" _Oh joy. I was having a nice dream too."_

 _Care to elaborate on the details?_

" _No."_

 _Well, aren't you just a ball of fun this fine morning?_

" _Hmmph, you are testing my patience," Äon half-growled, half yawned as he pushed himself up into a low hover, "At least I'll be back a lot faster than you, and I'll probably be done with everything by the time you get there."_

 _Quit rubbing it in my face, you jerk._

" _You know, I think I'm not going to do that. I'll see you in Leipzig."_

 _Yeah, yeah, get a move on before I knock you out._

" _You only wish you could,"_ the Latios smirked and gave a small wave with his hand. In a moment, he literally blasted off up into the heavens and disappeared into the cloudy, sparsely blue sky with a twinkle.

I shook my head as I headed back downstairs to my room to do my final checklist for the day. A set of a fresh change of clothes if I needed it, some very basic toiletries, my crappy flip-phone and my small mp3 player was pretty much all I needed for the short stay back on the Schöll homestead. I put on my semi-bursting backpack as I turned everything in the room off and headed out, locking the door behind me. With that done, I strapped on my battle belt, with the five poke balls attached, and began my journey home.

Isaak was passed out on the coach downstairs in the lobby with the television flashing colors onto his drooling, exhausted face. The early riser crowd was already making breakfast and we all shared a chuckle at Isaak's expense as I gave them my speedy farewell. I hailed a taxi and immediately the car bolted into street, inbound for the main train station. The Hauptbahnhof was fairly close to where we had eaten last night at Wollpacker, only a couple of blocks or so up the Spree river to the east.

In relative terms, the station was really new. It was a fancy, mostly glass and exposed beam structure, the whole modern architecture farce blown up to eleven, although it was definitely better than most other government attempts at pleasing aesthetics for a building.

Now, you're probably wondering why I got up so early to catch a train almost two-and-half hours later at nine. Well, to put the answer simply, Pokémon. Since the Hauptbahnhof included trains that travelled outside the country, especially to Poland and the Czech Republic, rather stringent security protocols had been put into place, requiring security checks for everyone traveling with Pokémon within or outside of Germany. You had to have the correct documentation for yourself and your Pokémon, which is exactly the reason why I sent Äon off on his own way to Leipzig. I'd have quite the job on my hands to explain the how and why I had a Latios, since they were among the Class I Pokémon that required a ridiculously expensive and hard to obtain license to have. It also explains why I so rarely used him in battles against friends since I was petrified of him being found and taken away. But Äon would have one word answer for that possibility.

" _If."_

Unfortunately for the rest of the gang and myself, we were subject to reality. After I had overpaid for the short cab journey, I hurried inside the massive glass structure to find a sprawling line already forming for the security checks. Fortunately, they had a line for domestic travel which was shorter, but still would take about an hour or so to get through due to the speed the officers operated on, which was about as fast as drunk Slakoff. I took out my headphones and mp3 player, put on some Casper and daydreamed about being home to distract me from the ridiculous line I was in. I could smell the intoxicating aroma of fresh bread from the bakery on the level above as well, which was driving me even more mad than I was already.

 _If I could, I would just barrel down all these people and get the hell out of here. That would be just absolutely wonderful. A warm cup of coffee in my hand, and something sweet to eat. By god, that sounds like heaven._

After an eternity of waiting, I finally reached the security checkpoint with the scanning machines for the pokéballs and the already whirring sonic devices, working to keep everything under control. The sonic devices had the nickname of 'Zerberus', since many devices like it guarded all of the important buildings in Germany and most of the world for that matter.

One of the officers motioned for me to come forward, and I quickly heeded his command. The officer seemed to be in his late fifties perhaps early sixties, with a hat hiding the obviously bald head. He didn't say anything thing as I handed my pokéballs over and the paperwork. He quickly placed the five balls into the scanning machine, which locked into place into open slots on top of it. The machine began flashing blue as the old man looked over my documents.

"Wie geht's?" he asked politely, glancing up for a moment from his reading.

"Gut danke, und selbst?" I responded quickly, with a small smile to seem as harmless as possible.

"Ach, ok. You know how it is…Gunter?"

"Genau."

"It's the same stuff, people forget the paperwork and cause trouble. It's not fun dealing with that all day since we have so many people to move through. You're headed to Leipzig?"

"Yeah," I answered, "Going home to see my parents for a day."

"Oh, that's nice," he replied, as he seemed to relax and hand me my papers back, "You'll get out of this hole for a while at least."

The machine finally finished its scans and a green light flashed on where the flashing blues had been.

"Alles ist gut hier," the officer called to his superior behind a high desk behind the row of scanners at the checkpoint, "Have a good day, and get yourself a cup of coffee upstairs."

"Danke, you read my mind!" I chuckled as I was handed back my pokéballs. After I had re-situated myself, I presented my ticket to the station official at the main entry point, and scurried through for that well earned Kaffee und Frühstück.

—

After some more waiting, and getting some much needed caffeine and calories into my system, I headed up to the top level where the main platforms were located. I had to admit, the stacked design of the station was at least somewhat impressive. Since I took my time savoring my meal, it wasn't long until the high-speed ICE train arrived at the platform.

My father had sent me a first-class round trip ticket on the slick, sparkling white high-speed train with a single red stripe down the side. Although I wouldn't have complained about being in second class, being used to public transport in the city, he insisted I take the ticket. So, I did, and once the train screeched to a halt, I climbed aboard. I found my seat in a rather nice six-seat cabin, empty for the time being, and took my place next to the window, and placed my backpack at my feet. The door clunked closed on its own volition startling me for a moment as I buried myself in the corner, desperate for another hour of sleep before being forced to confront the day totally.

But, of course, my luck being as it is, God did not deem that to be what I should be doing on this fine morning. Because, just as my eyes closed, I heard the door open and a group of voices become suddenly quiet. My eyes flashed over to the door.

 _Ahhhhhh, shit._

It was three girls. They looked to be like they were in university, due to their relatively plain clothing and large backpacks. They stowed their bags on the overheard storage racks and quietly sat away from me on the other side of the compartment. I just raised an eyebrow at them, and then saw one of their shirts was the name of an American university, Stanford, Syracuse, or something else with an S. I was too grumpy to really pay attention.

 _Do not explode with rage. Do not explode with rage._

"Are you all going to Leipzig?" I asked, trying to defuse the ever-growing awkward silence in the coach.

"Uhh…no," one of them finally responded. She was sitting near the door, holding her large and rather expensive looking phone lazily in her right hand.

 _I'm beginning to regret I said anything._

"München?" I asked again, barely managing to keep the stoic German facade together.

Before the same girl spoke again, another one of the girls, who was sitting almost directly across from me answered, "Yeah, that's where we're going."

I nodded quickly and bailed out of the conversation, turning my attention to the scenery beginning to pass by in the window as the train shunted back into motion.

 _And there's going to be more of these pretentious idiots here in a matter of days, including 'The Peacock'…ughhhh…_

—

At a quarter to eleven, the train at last pulled into the main station in Leipzig. I was relieved to be up and out of that damn train, since those girls talked almost non-stop after I halted my attempt to be interested in some sort of conversation with them. I practically leapt off the train since I was so done with the whole thing. I took a minute to stretch my legs on the platform, checking my phone for the inevitable message that my mom was outside waiting for me. Sure enough, it was there.

I headed off towards the main entrance of the train station, which despite being in an older building, still looked really new on the inside. That was the fortune of not being completely bombed out during the war like Berlin had. Leipzig had that old charm to it that was almost completely gone in Berlin. Berlin had 'moved on' to the modern era of the metropolis, and it almost didn't even really feel German anymore except maybe for the people. But even then, I had my reservations.

When I finally got outside back into the wonderful perpetually german grey weather, I found my mom in the usual BRM black sedan, and hurried over and into the front passenger seat.

"Well, good morning to you!" my mother chirped as she reached over and we shared a hug.

"Good to see you, mom," I replied, as a warm and genuine smile grew quickly on my face, "I'm glad to see you."

My mom wasn't really tall at all. She stood at about 165 cm, which was a head shorter than me. She was ok with being dwarfed by me, but she certainly still wished that she could baby me more than she could now. She had short cut, straight brown hair that went down to her neck, and a slightly wrinkled oval face. She had dull black eyes that seemed to catch every little detail, no matter what it was.

Being born in the east before the fall of 'die Mauer' would do that. Everyone from then knew my mom as 'Verrückte Luise', the girl with the courage of a thousand men. Both of her parents had been abducted by the Stasi, the former East German secret police, and sent to reeducation camps. Only her father came back, and was nowhere near the same. My father met her not long after that, and well, the rest is obvious.

"Your father is happy you're coming home to see everyone," my mother continued, snapping me back to the present, "He's got a new breeding pair that he wants to show you."

"Direct from the guy in Macau?"

"The female yes, the male you've heard about already."

"Ohh, the one that Finnish guy wants really bad…what was his name?"

"Rakete," she answered instantly.

"Right," I said as I glanced out the window which was changing from the greys of the city to the greens of the countryside, the buildings replaced by trees, and the streets by rolling fields. The little town of Wallendorf, with a population of just over 700 people, was the place I became the person everyone knows now. The family farmhouse was only a minute or two away from the Wallendorfer See, which was where most of the people my age spent their time back in the schooldays.

After a few minutes of silence the old black-and-white Fachwerk farmhouse came into view, much more imposing than my memory seemed to remember it to be. My father was standing in the doorway, dressed in very german, grey-tweed suit, black shoes, with a red tie. With his old-style glasses over his blue eyes, he looked like he was in the 1950s, not 2014. His combed over stark blonde hair shined in what little light there was outside, covered his small, rounded head. Ol' Oskar Schöll was smirking. That typically meant a surprise, but with him you never really knew.

He came up to the car once we pulled up in front of the house, and opened my door to let me out. Once I was up on my feet, he gave me a big bear hug, giving me a bit of a shaking in the process.

"How's my boy doing?" he asked with that big, low booming voice of his, "Have a good trip?"

"Yeah, it was fine Papa."

"Good, good!" he replied as he gave a light little slap on my face, "I'm glad you're home. Äon is already done, so all we have to do is take care of the others and you're good to go for Monday."

"Alright," I replied with a sigh, "Thanks."

I handed my belt over to him as I followed him inside, while my mom went off somewhere else in the house. To a first-timer in this house, the inside would be a total system shock to one's expectations based on the old, extremely traditional exterior. The inside appeared to be almost like an American house with the styling, nice tile and hardwood floors, electric lights everywhere, leather furniture, brand new appliances and the works.

We headed upstairs to his 'workspace' which was pretty much an entire floor converted into his office/workzone, where he liked to be left completely alone to do his work. The machine which I had travelled all this way for was placed in the corner. It didn't look too different to the one which had scanned the gang this morning, except for being a little larger and having a glass cover which went over the slots when the balls were placed inside.

"Alright then…" my father began as he fiddled away on the machine, with me feigning some sort of interest in what he was doing, "That should…do it!"

He took the pokéballs out from the belt, placed each one in a slot, pressed a few buttons and the process began. The machine hummed rather loud as it began carrying out its work. It would take a few hours for the job to be completely done.

"So, would you like a cup of coffee or something?" my father asked as he went over to his large desk situation on the other side of the room and took his big brown leather chair. For a moment, it felt like I was some prospective business client for my father instead of his son. It was awkward and we both knew it.

"No, I'm okay," I politely declined, as if I wasn't accepting a pamphlet being handed out rather than a beverage from my father. "I've already had something this morning."

"Oh, okay," my father replied with an equally polite smile, but the hesitation in his voice was enough to let me know that some part of him was hurt the cold formality between the two of us.

 _It's your fault though…_

"How's Berlin?" my father asked, trying to recover from his stumble and not let the silence in the room suffocate the two of us.

"About the same as it always is. Still looks like shit and it isn't getting better anytime soon," I replied, shifting my weight a little and glancing around the room. An unfortunate side effect of spending any length of time in my fathers 'sanctum' meant there wasn't a chair for anyone but himself.

"I meant your job."

 _Straight to the point, as usual._

"Good. It's going good. I'm making good money working at Ulli's and the tips I'm getting definitely sweeten the deal."

"I'm glad to hear that," my father replied as he nodded his head as if he had received a particularly pleasing business report. "That's why I wanted you to do this," he continued before taking another sip of coffee from his black coffee mug with golden Chinese characters on it. "You needed to learn what it's like to start on your own, because down the road, you'll appreciate it and it'll make you that much stronger compared to all the other rabble." I subconsciously began to flex my fists at hearing this speech again. "I know it was hard," my father said, his eyes, like my mothers, never missing a thing. "Nothing is easy with life…" he trailed off.

"Yeah, thanks for making that obvious enough to me."

"Ha!" my father reflexively laughed, a short, sharp sound that would've startled me if I hadn't half expected it. "If only you had your Opa as your father, then you'd realize how lucky you are." Again, expected.

"I know, I'm lucky," I shot back in an almost bored tone, trying to convey how repetitive this conversation felt. "I'm not an idiot, father." For some reason, I couldn't find it in myself to use the term 'dad' with this man. It felt too close for him. "I didn't grow up under the eyes of the Stasi. I know exactly how 'lucky' I am."

My father was silent for a moment before he nodded a few times, his shoulders slumping and head dropping. This… this was new. Unscripted.

"So, you know the past." He picked himself up and walked towards the huge window at an end of the room, looking over a large pasture behind the house. A few Arcanines and Growlithes were out running around and romping around in the field.

"But do you know the future?"

My blood drained from my face so suddenly that the room suddenly felt freezing. Every doubt, every self-deprecating thought, every inadequacy I subjected myself to when I first arrived in Berlin all came roaring back like a wildfire. The last few years of building my self-confidence in my skill and ability to become a top trainer suddenly dissolved like salt in water.

"If you had told me back when I was your age that I would wind up in China, of all places, and become the first foreign 'Mythic' status breeder there, or anywhere else, of Arcanines and Growlithes, I would've spat in your face," my father said in a quiet, serious voice. "The world can change in an instant. You think you know your path, then, the forces of destiny and the will of fate turn you upside down and leave you in Shanghai." My father glanced back at me with a light smirk and added, "Or Berlin."

"I… I…" I sputtered, still struggling at remaining standing, let alone responding to my father.

"Even in the moments where everything seems solid, permanent, it all can be uprooted and changed," my father said as he stepped away from his window and went to sit on his desk facing me. "This tournament of yours on Monday, it has the chance to do that. It can be your plane to Shanghai."

 _What? Who was this person? My father never sounded like this._

"No matter what happens, I will always be in your corner, Gunter. You're going to prove a lot of people wrong on Monday whether you're willing to admit that to yourself or not. If you want that dream of being in the World Cup so badly, you'll make it happen. I've always known you'd do great things. If I had doubted that, I would've never made you leave. Äon knows it too. Legendaries don't just let anyone be their partners."

 _Ah, there it is. The catalyst for this sudden change._

"You've been talking to Äon, haven't you?"

"You can tell that easily?"

" _Very perceptive, Gunter. I should stop underestimating you. How could you tell?"_

 _You never miss out on a chance to let people know who helped them out, you eccentric dragon._

" _Hmmph."_

"Yes," I finally answered my father flatly, rubbing my forehead to try and stem off the sudden headache I was developing. "I've been around him on my own long enough that I know his work when I hear it."

"Well, that must be quite a lot then," my father chuckled before he returned to a more solemn tone, switching the conversation back to its original track. "I've known for a while you're on a different path than me, and I have no reason to try and force you from the one you've chosen. We may not be as close as I wish we were," my father said, causing me to raise an eyebrow before I schooled my features again, "but I know now, thanks to that dragon of yours, how hard you've been working on this. You've gone and forged a reality for yourself that wouldn't have existed without your skill and effort. That's what I've always wanted for you, the chance to create your own success, and to be great at it." My father suddenly found interest in his black mug. "I'm sorry if I… put you off or scarred you with… sort of… kicking you out."

"Sort of?" I sarcastically repeated. If my father was apologizing, I would be damned if I wasn't going to get a complete one out of him.

"Fine, I did kick you out, no 'sort of' about it. But now that I've explained myself, can you understand why? Can you appreciate my reasons?"

I sighed and stared down at my feet, my toes bulging the ends of the shoes as I worked through everything I had heard.

"Understanding and appreciation will take time," I finally said. "I don't know how much, but it will be much more than a few minutes."

"I understand," my father said in a breathy voice that didn't sound completely relieved, but at the very least, hopeful. "Take all the time you need. Just don't hesitate to call me when you need it. I want to help you, not crush you."

"Ok, I'll be outside for a little bit."

—

The air was much calmer outside than it had been inside. The big pasture stretched almost as far as you could see, with only the trees from near the Wallendorfer See breaking the illusion. There was a large, heavy-set, but not very tall wooden fence separating me from the many Arcanines and Growlithes roaming in the grass. Although I couldn't quite see them, I definitely could hear them, pounding around chasing after each other or perhaps a crow who had made the unfortunate mistake of landing in their territory.

I climbed up and over the fence into the wilds and immediately I heard a large set of pounding steps bounding towards me from my 2 o'clock. I clenched my eyes shut as I braced myself for a big tackle, but it didn't come. Once I felt a delayed attack was no longer on the cards, I opened my eyes to find a large Arcanine, with a scar over what once was its left eye. The Arcane cocked its head as it looked over me but it didn't take long for either of us to recognize each other.

"Gigant!" I shouted as I ran over and gave him a tackle of my own, forcing the Arcanine onto his side, barking happily all the way down. Giving him a scratch or two under his neck, he was sprawled out on the ground, rolling around with no regard for anything else. After a minute of that or so, he decided to lie down flat so I could use him sort of like a living sofa.

"Ar-rrrrca!" he barked, hoping I had some sort of treat for him.

"Sorry, not this time," I answered back as I ruffled the fur on top of his head.

Gigant was one of the last survivors of the 'Wilde Fünf', the troublemaker gang of Arcanines that either had conditions preventing them from being with a competitive trainer like Gigant, or had behavioral problems, like Ruprecht who was so rowdy that even until he passed away he never would totally follow orders. Fritz wasn't supposed to be part of the five, but he found his way into that group once he followed me around like my shadow as a young pup. Gigant was the de-facto leader of the gang, being the eldest of all the Arcanines in the group and at times the most reckless. He had lost his eye in a fight with one of the more 'exceptional' breeding Arcanines, which I can't seem to remember the name of. My father was incredibly furious when he found out about it and gave both of them rather stern, but fair punishments of isolation for a month. Gigant, despite this, still was rather boisterous, but toned down his rough-play quite a lot. He started being a godfather of sorts to other Growlithes and Arcanines that weren't easy advertisements for adoption, and mellowed out quite a bit. Gigant was definitely a big brother for Fritz and even myself since my father had been distant through my childhood.

Gigant looked back over towards me and gave a short bark.

"Yeah, we talked. Don't know how well it went though."

"Arca-aa?" He cocked his head in curiousity.

"He surprised me. Actually said he was sorry for all that happened and he was trying to do it so I would be better off."

"Arc!" Gigant barked happily.

"You're right. Better than not doing anything at all. I probably should be somewhat happy about it…I just…I just don't know."

Gigant looked back over towards me and moved over to put his big head in my lap.

I sat there in silence with Gigant, patting him softly on the head as the birds sang their usual songs into the air around us. The bright green grass waved slightly in the passing breezes with a slight hiss. After a minute or so, the new guest made herself known off to my left.

She was the Arcanine that had come in from Macau from my father's good friend Song Zan, another mythic breeder. She had a rather fancy green-and-black patterned collar on, with the name 'Tianshi' written on a fastened brass piece. Tianshi definitely lived up to her name sake, as her fur and patterning was pretty much flawless, definitely one of the best I had seen. Gigant glared at her with his one eye, but didn't growl or anything. Rakete came bounding over from out of nowhere not a moment later, rushing up in Gigant's face and roaring at him menacingly. Gigant hopped up and barked right back at Rakete and butted up against his head.

I pushed myself in to break up the scuffle before it turned into another fight that everyone was going to regret.

"Get on with your girlfriend Rakete," I shouted as I gave him a smack on the forehead and he recoiled in slight shock, "Yeah, I hit you, get over it, Matschkopf."

Rakete growled at his wounded pride, but slinked off to join Tianshi without any more fanfare. Gigant, sitting on his haunches, was grinning from ear-to-ear at getting back at Rakete, but I was about to give him a little wake-up call of his own.

"Proud of that aren't you?" I snarled, pushing my fist into his chest, "Think that was fun?"

Gigant glanced at me with genuine confusion as he leapt to his feet and started backing up, "Ar..r..r..caa?"

"Uh-huh, Gigant, you need to stop picking fights with everyone because you think you're so much better than they are. I understand Rakete can be an asshole, but you need to just not give a shit, ok?" I ordered firmly as I kept pushing into him, making him back further and further out into the field, with some of the other Arcanines and Growlithes closing in, curious to how I was forcing back one of the Alphas. "I'm not doing this because I hate you, I'm doing this because I'm on your side and always have been. I don't want you to lose another eye and then never see anything again."

 _Maybe this is what he meant…That caring for someone means showing them what's best for them, even though it might be a harsh truth…_

"Ar-caa!" Gigant barked back in defeat, pushing my hand away. He put his head down, refusing to look back up at me. I wrapped my arm around his neck as he burrowed his head into my shoulder, almost like he was sobbing.

 _And people say Pokémon have no soul…_

* * *

 **AN/: And so you now have your four chapter primer into the world and story of Gunter Schöll. The ramp-up to the world cup qualifiers will begin next chapter with the tournament at Ulli's and then that opens a whole new can of worms into the international competition world of Pokémon in this universe, which I think you all will enjoy. Of course, please let me know what you think of the story so far. Say whatever you like, honestly, I prefer you telling me your real opinion over anything else. Hope to see you all sometime again soon. Have a great day!**

 **Tschüss,**

 **Der Graue**


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